Vanilla Butterflies

You know how when you have icecream in the freezer, or cheesy-poofs in the pantry, they call to you? Of course you do. And if you are a knitter, you know that stash yarn does the same. It calls to you in that Siren song, Knit me! That, my friends, is how I came to cast on yet another sock even though I already have four other socks (and two sweaters) OTN. The Pagewood Farm Hand Dyed Sock Yarn Alyeska (80% Merino, 10 % Cashmere, 10 % Nylon) in the color Butterfly kept calling to me.

How could anyone resist?

Butterfly was relentless. I tried to resist her call. I kept telling myself that I should finish the projects I have in progress before starting yet another pair of socks. But I had made the fatal mistake of touching this yarn. If you have ever in your life touched anything that contains even a tiny amount of cashmere, you know exactly what I mean. Cashmere has a combination of soft and silky that no mere mortal can resist (unless you are one of the unlucky few who are allergic to cashmere, and if you are, you have my deepest sympathies).

And the colorway! It’s simply heavenly. How could I possibly resist?

I actually knitted most of a sock from this yarn earlier this year, but I had to rip it out. I made a terrible error in judgment. I started the sock from the cuff and ended up running out of yarn well before it was time to start the toe decreases.

This yarn is so nice, I knit it twice.

Yikes! I knew I was taking a chance, but really. I should know better.

Although knitting socks toe up is not my favorite method, when working with a sock yarn that has limited yardage, I usually start with the toe. ‘Tis better to run out of yarn while knitting the leg than while knitting the foot, right? Anyway, Pagewood Farm Alyeska is a sport weight yarn with 360 yards in 4 ounces. The recommended gauge is 7-7.5 stitches per inch, but even with a sport weight yarn, I cannot bring myself to knit socks at that gauge. I’m sorry, but I just don’t want to hold my socks up to the light and be able to see through them. Sock fabric needs to be dense. Sport weight yarn gets 8-8.5 stitches per inch when I knit it up into socks.

I decided my lovely Butterfly would look best knitted on 2.75mm needles (8 stitches per inch) in a very plain vanilla pattern that would show off the lovely colors. So I chose a simple K3, P1 rib and used Judy’s Magic Cast On and two circular needles to cast on 22 stitches. You can see all the technical details on Ravelry, even if you aren’t a member.

The foot of sock #1 is done, the heel is turned, and the leg is under way.

Butterfly Vanilla Socks

I don’t have to worry about running out of yarn before I’m finished because I will be finished when I run out of yarn. 🙂

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11 thoughts on “Vanilla Butterflies”

I really like the colors in that yarn. I’m starting to prefer toe-up socks for the same reason — no worry of running short on the yarn. Also because, once the heel is turned I can quit whenever I’m ready. 🙂

Q – Beautiful yarn. And I know that “siren’s song” sung by yarn. 😎 I like Janet’s idea for why to knit from toe up. I admit sometimes I’m totally tired of knitting a sock but have to keep going to finish the toe. LOL

For me, the advantages of toe-up sock knitting don’t outweigh the disadvantages. I used to hate knitting socks toe up, but Judy’s Magic Cast On and Chrissy Gardiner’s rounded toe formula have made knitting socks toe up tolerable.

This is so lovely! My wonderful guy them brought some wonderful yarn with cashmere content from his trip to Vanouver a couple of weeks ago – but I am afraid I won’t make this into socks, as I couldn’t bear them getting a hole … I’ll make a shawl instead with it. Or mittens.

I know what you mean. I have one pair of socks that are 100% merino wool and they are soft and comfy and gorgeous, but they developed holes on the soles and bottom of the heels that I darned. But now I rarely wear them any more even though I love them. But I’ve never gotten holes in any of the socks that have Nylon in them as of yet, and some of them are 15 years old, so these socks should hold up just fine. However, if they develop holes, I will darn them.